Need expert advice if an external Amp will improve my system?

[Pogre]

What is your AVR? How many SUB OUTs does it have?

Crawling for Bass - Subwoofer Placement Tips

Do the Subwoofer Crawl. It's the easiest way to find the proper placement location for your subwoofer to get the best performance and sound.

www.audioholics.com

Geddes technique is my preference. The concept of specific placement for all rooms is bogus... because All Rooms Are Different! It sounds like you have a more complex room, therefore, the dogmatc approach of front wall, 1/4 wall, 1/2 wall, corner loading... may not work for you. If you do the Crawl with an open mind and a willingness to learn, the following can make a lot of sense.

Two Great Articles on Multiple Subwoofers by Dr. Earl Geddes

I have written before on the absolute necessity of multiple subwoofers for high-fidelity reproduction of modal region frequencies in a hom...

seriousaudioblog.blogspot.com

Yeah, what Ryan says here is also very relevant. All the EQ settings and port plugs in the world won't do much if your room doesn't like where your subs are.

 

[Bin]

@ryanosaur , the AVR i currently using is Yamaha TSR 7810 and it only have one sub adjustment in the system (not like those higher end model where u can adjust 2 subs individually to play with distance).

@Pogre , let me play around with a little bit more over this weekend.
1) I will try to adjust the volume knob to 12, and rerun YPAO
2) will test with 2 ports open a little bit more
3) mostly testing on songs like Bass I Love you, Curtain Shaker, Thanks to You (and i also test some songs from Spotify playlist "101 subwoofer").
4) I tested Blade Runner eye scene too, it's not as rattling as i was expecting..lol.

If all fails, i will swap the sub and speakers position and redo all the above steps.
Last resort, i might come to sub crawl technique, but the problem is with WAF that i don't have much other position to place those subs....haha

 

[lovinthehd]

And lastly, sorry to confused you on the 1 sub position, i didn't mean that. Yamaha YPAO can run room correction on 1 position or multi up to 8 seating positions......earlier i meant to say i only ran YPAO on 1 seating position only to test the sub out, i will be running YPAO on multi seating position later.

FWIW I'd call those mic measurements, and one may not be giving enough information. I wouldn't place the mic literally in different seats either, but rather in an area clustered around the main listening position.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Also, how hot were the PB1k’s? I know over time we can tend to tweak stuff and then forget what we did and then that’s the new standard. FWIW, it might worth trying to bump 5db over ypao. Oh, and be careful with “Bass I love you”. Iirc, it goes down to 7hz or something crazy like that. I know HSU uses protection, but just be aware.

 

[Pogre]

@ryanosaur , the AVR i currently using is Yamaha TSR 7810 and it only have one sub adjustment in the system (not like those higher end model where u can adjust 2 subs individually to play with distance).

@Pogre , let me play around with a little bit more over this weekend.
1) I will try to adjust the volume knob to 12, and rerun YPAO
2) will test with 2 ports open a little bit more
3) mostly testing on songs like Bass I Love you, Curtain Shaker, Thanks to You (and i also test some songs from Spotify playlist "101 subwoofer").
4) I tested Blade Runner eye scene too, it's not as rattling as i was expecting..lol.

If all fails, i will swap the sub and speakers position and redo all the above steps.
Last resort, i might come to sub crawl technique, but the problem is with WAF that i don't have much other position to place those subs....haha

Here's my take on songs like "bass I love you". They're fun to show off with but pretty far from real world usage. I save stuff like that for when I have everything dialed in and sounding good with my regular every day listening material. Get that all dialed in first with familiar music. Keep in mind too, those subsonic frequencies are below your threshold of hearing! You literally cannot hear frequencies below 20 hz and I have trouble "hearing" up to about 25 hz even.

 

[Bin]

Guess what guys.

After a few trials as I mentioned in my earlier posts, this was what happened that made both the subs come to live now.

1) Thursday night, spoke to Kevin Hsu and he had me play a list of testtone from HSU website and I did. And then I turned off my system.
2) Friday night, my wife was in mood yesterday and joined me in sound test. She played some of her favorite track, and she turned up the volume to -25db (I was testing between -50 to -35 previously).

As soon as that AVR volume is up, oh man both the subs came to live all of a sudden. We played PAUSE ZUMBA MIX by Pitbull, my wife said "now I feel the bass on my chest".

Later tonight, I just have to go back to perform the multi point YPAO room correction and should be good from there.

Will keep you guys posted, keep on rocking !

 

[lovinthehd]

Guess what guys.

After a few trials as I mentioned in my earlier posts, this was what happened that made both the subs come to live now.

1) Thursday night, spoke to Kevin Hsu and he had me play a list of testtone from HSU website and I did. And then I turned off my system.
2) Friday night, my wife was in mood yesterday and joined me in sound test. She played some of her favorite track, and she turned up the volume to -25db (I was testing between -50 to -35 previously).

As soon as that AVR volume is up, oh man both the subs came to live all of a sudden. We played PAUSE ZUMBA MIX by Pitbull, my wife said "now I feel the bass on my chest".

Later tonight, I just have to go back to perform the multi point YPAO room correction and should be good from there.

Will keep you guys posted, keep on rocking !

Were the subs even on before? Do you have perhaps an issue with auto-on not getting sufficient signal to turn on the subs until you twist the volume? Or?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Were the subs even on before? Do you have perhaps an issue with auto-on not getting sufficient signal to turn on the subs until you twist the volume? Or?

First thing I thought of too.

Yeah Bin, if the signal is too low to the subs, they won’t even turn on. I ended up at -3 in my AVR, and mine turn on even at low volumes.

 

[Bin]

That's the very 1st thing i checked when i plug the subs in the 1st day, making sure that auto on feature works and it DID WORK. The subs were working in my 1st 2 days of testing (Tue and Wed) as i was sitting near to them and touched those moving drivers...........except they were quiet.

My guess is, it may have something to do with the testtone i played or my wife turned up the volume which "MOVE" those big drivers that have sit in the factory far too long . if that makes sense.
Now that the subs are working, i will start to dial them in slowly so they blend with all my speakers.

 

[Pogre]

There's another part to the story about my perception of the big subs, now that I think about it... I think there was also a visual placebo effect happening in my case. I went from 12s to 15s and the drivers in the 15s look like they're barely moving compared to the 12s. I really think that added to the perception.

*Ahem

 

[Bin]

Guys, i rerun YPAO multi point over the weekend and test listen using ear.
So far, i can say it performed pretty well. I haven't test on watching movies yet, but will do so later this week.

Need your help to recommend me a few good songs (from spotify) that i can play to test the sub MID BASS so I can verify if the subs are losing any volume at those mid bass level.
I am not ready to invest more on miniDSP/REW/mic as yet since i don't have much sub placement in my room, so gonna test this the old school way by using only my ear, particularly my wife's ear

Same setting used
- 1 port open, sub volume at 10oclock, Q control 0.7
- XO speakers L/R/C on 90hz
- YPAO set AVR volume at -2.0db (i left it untouch)

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Subwoofer Candy

Playlist · Bretcoe · 17 songs · 5 likes

open.spotify.com

This has a variety of good stuff.

Also try the subwoofer candy thread on AH.

 

[lovinthehd]

You could also use something simple like an spl meter app on a phone and run test sweeps (but could be limited by the range of the mic).

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

You could also use something simple like an spl meter app on a phone and run test sweeps (but could be limited by the range of the mic).

Yeah, here’s a comparison I found a while back. I might be missing something but it’s why I am reticent to recommend spl apps.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yeah, here’s a comparison I found a while back. I might be missing something but it’s why I am reticent to recommend spl apps.

Yes, can vary quite a bit. Might be more accurate than a wife, tho

 

[Pogre]

Guys, i rerun YPAO multi point over the weekend and test listen using ear.
So far, i can say it performed pretty well. I haven't test on watching movies yet, but will do so later this week.

Need your help to recommend me a few good songs (from spotify) that i can play to test the sub MID BASS so I can verify if the subs are losing any volume at those mid bass level.
I am not ready to invest more on miniDSP/REW/mic as yet since i don't have much sub placement in my room, so gonna test this the old school way by using only my ear, particularly my wife's ear

Same setting used
- 1 port open, sub volume at 10oclock, Q control 0.7
- XO speakers L/R/C on 90hz
- YPAO set AVR volume at -2.0db (i left it untouch)

Still using EQ1 with one port plugged? If you're concerned about MID BASS then you're using the wrong EQ setting and port configuration...

 

[Pogre]

TOOL, Korn, Chevelle and Blues Traveler are some of the groups I like for that mid to low bass punch. Check out "Under the Knife" by Chevelle once. When I crank it up it's like sitting in a massage chair. Toward the end there are a couple of 30 hz-ish bass drops during the chorus that are really cool.

Turn that one up and hang onto your chair!

 

[Pogre]

Here's another really cool one from TOOL. "Chocolate Chip Trip". About half way into it he comes in with the bass drums and I can feel it in my chest.

 

[Bin]

Thank you guys for your quick response, there are some good materials for me to play with this week.
I will test them all.

@Pogre , what's your recommendation then for get the max mid bass ? 2 port open at EQ2 with Q control 0.7?

 

[Pogre]

Thank you guys for your quick response, there are some good materials for me to play with this week.
I will test them all.

@Pogre , what's your recommendation then for get the max mid bass ? 2 port open at EQ2 with Q control 0.7?

Yeah, I think I might have mentioned that 2 or 3 times now...